Women, Warfare and the Tudor Regimes (c.1485-1603)

Nelson, Samantha Loren Wendy (2025) Women, Warfare and the Tudor Regimes (c.1485-1603). Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This study investigates the role of women within sixteenth-century land-based conflicts waged by or against the Tudor regime, assessing how constructions of gender influenced their engagement in, and experience of, warfare. By focusing specifically on women's non-combatant roles in military organisation through an analysis of administrative documents, correspondence, muster records, and other state records, it challenges the narrative that warfare was chiefly the business of men. It seeks to move away from a female-victim dichotomy and bring studies of non-combatants in conflict to bear on the English, Welsh, and Irish experience, ultimately creating a more complete image of land-based conflict in the Tudor realm – one that acknowledges the contribution of women to Tudor warfare. It integrates study of more conventional venues of warfare with study of rebellions and defensive preparations: in doing so, this study investigates how different types of warfare affected the behaviours of those who were directly involved. Through an analysis of the source material with reference to gendered discourse, rhetorical strategies, and concepts of performativity, this study suggests that women manipulated gendered stereotypes to their own end, allowing many to wield power, agency, and authority in the military sphere despite restrictions placed on their sex. The plurality, multivalence, and dynamism of women's experiences of warfare are also apparent in the sources, demonstrating that military femininities were influenced not only by gender, but also other intersectional factors including social rank and marital status. Women occupied an unusual position in relation to conflict: they were valued but considered expendable; they were restricted in their activities but relied upon for their military contributions; and whilst they were considered to be unsuited for war, time and again they proved themselves capable of dealing with martial matters. By omitting women's involvement in and experience of the military world, historians run the risk of overlooking the significance of conflict to the lives of Tudor subjects or those working for the English Crown and, most importantly, downplaying the contributions of women to the waging of Tudor warfare.